In a Village of Ellsworth Finance Committee meeting where plans for a proposed move of the library to the vacant BMO Harris Bank building were discussed, discussion also touched on the possibility of all village office operations moving to that facility at 388 W. Main St.

After more than an hour of discussion last Monday night, the committee recommended giving Library Building Committee Chair Paul Bauer authority to negotiate with the bank about the purchase of the building, currently on the market for $525,000 since the Ellsworth office was shut down in the spring.

Bauer’s negotiations were to be contingent on village approval, and the Finance Committee set another meeting for this week to talk about borrowing to pay for the library project and renovations.

As village board and committee member Neil Gulbranson put it, the village would be “on the hook” for about $1 million, though fundraising by the library could eclipse a portion of that.

The initial cost of moving the library into the facility with remodeling was put at $1,516,149 with the cost of the building. A second project would be developing the senior center in the basement of the building, and that cost could run in excess of $1.5 million, but it would be expected that would qualify for federal Community Development Block Grant funding.

Bauer said that right now for the library project itself, the library is sitting on $595,000 in its building fund. He estimated that $350,000 in grant could help pay for the project, and that an additional over $570,000 would be brought in by fundraising to pay for the project.

However, the village would need to borrow to pay for the project up front and make up any shortfall in fundraising.

The main library area is shown in proposed plans before the committee last week as 11,649 square feet of space. Most of the former main level bank area would need just light remodeling, but there would be more work to remove teller stations as well as adding a ramp for a separate elevation and taking out walls for offices.

The senior center level would need more work with some large areas of heavy remodeling needed, but that won’t be done initially, and won’t be included in any initial borrowing.

The Library Building Committee once before considered the BMO building and was going to lease from the bank, prior to the committee moving forward with putting together plans for renovation at the current library building at 312 W. Main St.

The senior center phase included replacing the elevator in the building but that wouldn’t need to be done until then.

There are also some deferred maintenance projects that will have to be considered if they are going to be done right away or in the future, such as roofing upgrades.

Bauer said the fundraising group of the library needs a direction before it can do anything.

“The problem is you can’t get funding until you have a concrete approval of the project by the village. They’re just not going to give you money,” he said. “We’ve been round and round. We really just need a direction to pick.”

Of the $550,000 fundraising goal, Bauer said, “It’s a stretch for the community, but I think there’s enough interest and enough people interested, that I think we can do that in a relatively short period of time. Everything is pending on where we go.”

Bauer said the last estimate for remodeling the current library location was $2.8 million.

“We would also need to relocate (the library) for six to nine months. We don’t have that figured in the cost,” Bauer said. “And when we’re all done, there would be considerably less parking available than what we currently have.”

“I’ve actually been thinking about that,” Bauer said, noting the area under roof outside the teller area could be built in for the police department, and there would be room inside for village offices.

Regardless, Gulbranson said that the village is responsible for all costs.

“All our financial people said we’re on the hook for it. You have to figure that. They can name off five libraries that said they were going to fundraise, but the money never came through,” he said.

Village President Gerald DeWolfe said there are reasons it wouldn’t be a good idea to have the village offices in with the library.

“The only reason I wouldn’t want the library intermingled with village hall if there’s an incident that happens at village hall that doesn’t’ need to be heard by library patrons…People come in huffing and swearing at the girls or the water bill or whatever,” he said.

There was no more talk about moving village offices other than Gulbranson stressing that if it were ever to be an option, planning would have to start anew of the facility and not just have the village offices and police department as an afterthought.

“I’ll ask a question,” said Gulbranson. “How do you answer when somebody says the library, the people that use the library, 60 percent of them are not going to pay to build it, but the village is going to pay for all the build?”

It was pointed out that the library brings people from outside the community, and they shop and support the businesses and community.

Gulbranson also pointed out that if the library moves to the BMO building that’s $15,000 in lost tax base a year.

“You’re going to have somebody that slips in and buys it if you don’t soon,” warned Bauer.